Not long ago, Eminem admitted that he “stole the black music”, but now, he is the victim of the theft. The former employee who worked in the Detroit rapper for more than a decade has been accused of stealing and selling unreleased music for $50,000.
Former employee working for Eminem, stealing songs
Leaked songs are guilty fun in hip-hop. Fans know that unauthorized music will hurt their favorite artists in different ways, but they still want to hear it. Some supporters will even be with them to come up with enough money to pay for the coveted leak. There is a special underworld. It’s very likely that the person who leaked the music was coming from inside, and that’s what happened to Eminem.
The federal government claims that a man who once worked for Slim Shady took unauthorized music files and sold them on the internet. According to CBS News, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, Michigan’s Eastern District filed a 17-page criminal lawsuit against sound engineer Joseph Strange and accused him of criminal infringement of copyright and interstate transportation. The FBI investigation is underway.
The 54-year-old Weird Man, now employed a studio in Fairndale, Michigan for 14 years from 2007 to 2021, and in a studio in Ferndale, Michigan, there were only four people — strange, two other sound engineers (one of whom was Weird Uncle) and a manager — with access to hard drives in a studio at Midwest MC Music. When not in use, the drive is locked in the safe.
Last January, the FBI received a prompt from other Aminem employees that unreleased studio work at Marshall Mathers III was circulating on the Internet without permission. The employees also found an image online showing a list of unreleased music created by rhymes, shot from a hard drive. That same month, a leaked track called “Smack You”, in which Eminem abandoned JA Rule and Suge Knight for a tour on the internet.
After the FBI got involved, they tracked multiple people who bought unreleased music and learned that strange people were for sale. One tipster is an EM fan, telling EM’s business partner Fred Nasser how the song stands out from the artist’s hard drive through messages between fan tipsters and people using the name Doja Rat.
“Doja Rat claims he bought songs from a man named Joseph Strange, who was once an employee of Mathers,” the criminal complaint read. “Doja Rat claims to have paid Joseph Strange about $50,000 in music.” The money is allegedly funded Strange’s recent surgery for undisclosed reasons. Doja Rat is just one of the guys who paid Joseph Strange for Slim Shady’s unauthorized music. A group of buyers gathered to buy songs from Strange as well.
Eminem’s long-time spokesperson provided XXL with allegations that he had trusted someone:
“Em and his team are very grateful for the efforts of the FBI’s Detroit Bureau for its thorough investigation, which led to the allegations against Joe Qiyi. The huge damage caused by trusted staff cannot be exaggerated and therefore cannot be exaggerated in its artistic legacy and creative integrity, let alone huge financial losses to ensure the efforts of many creators and cooperatives and their due protection and their efforts. Art, will stop with nothing.”
When the Fed searched Joseph Strange’s Michigan home on Jan. 28, they found several original handwritten lyrics and notes, a VHS tape with unreleased music, with unreleased music and hard drives, some of the Grammy-winning music and some artists who worked with him.
The strange person faces up to five years in prison and faces a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted of criminal copyright infringement. Transportation of interstate transportation can be jailed for up to 10 years. The criminal lawsuit filed against Strange does not guarantee that he will be tried. After investigation, it will be decided whether to seek felony prosecution.
XXL has contacted the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Eastern Michigan.
